State Ed Board: School in Lake Forest without teachers shouldn't count

Lisa BlackTribune reporter

State education officials said late Tuesday that the two days of classes held at Lake Forest High School while teachers have been strike should not count as legal attendance days.

With the new development, it wasn’t immediately clear whether school will be held on Wednesday. Lake Forest High School District 115 spokeswoman Anne Whipple said late Tuesday she had not been apprised of the Illinois State Board of Education’s statement.

“At this point, we do not believe that the Lake Forest program meets the criteria for a legal school day,” said Mary Fergus, spokeswoman for the Illinois State Board of Education.

The teachers union and the district remain at the bargaining table at this hour. Since talks resumed at 3 p.m. today, neither side has indicated whether progress has been made. A settlement of the strike tonight could be mean normal classes resume Wednesday.

Teachers in the affluent North Shore district walked out on Sept. 12 after failing to reach a deal with the district over salaries and benefits. But district officials announced that they would reopen school Monday without the teachers, using a combination of administrators, volunteers and substitutes to provide educational content.

The programming received mixed reviews from students, though many students and parents said they appreciated efforts by the district to keep school open during the strike.

State education officials did not specify why they didn’t think Lake Forest met the criteria for having Monday and Tuesday count as legal attendance day.

Those criteria include having at least 50 percent student attendance – a mark that was easily met both days, according to school officials. The school must also have a specific number of certified teachers on hand. Another factor is the quality of the educational programming.